


Softness

by Katherine



Category: Doctor Dolittle - Hugh Lofting
Genre: First Person, Gen, Narrated by Tommy Stubbins, Nests, Rabbits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-04-25 09:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22288768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/pseuds/Katherine
Summary: The rabbit who was waiting for Doctor Dolittle looked perfectly healthy, if a little out of breath from his journey. "My wife," he was saying, almost apologetically.
Kudos: 10





	Softness

The rabbit who was waiting for Doctor Dolittle looked perfectly healthy, if a little out of breath from his journey. "My wife," he was saying, almost apologetically, when I came near enough to listen to the conversation. "It might be perfectly natural, but she's quite bald underneath. Our first family. Seven of them," he added with shy pride.

The Doctor explained gently that it was the usual thing, a doe plucking her own fur to keep her babies warm and comfortable, even when she did not herself know quite why she was doing it. ("Instinct is marvellous, Stubbins," he said in an aside to me. "We people would be much the better off if we had more of it.") Still, he said, they could soon make an improvement.

"If her fur's not growing back by when your children are weaned to grass," the Doctor cautioned, "Come back yourself or send a relation. I have an effective hair restorer, as a certain white mouse can attest."

When the rabbit-husband left, he carried a big (relative to his size) ball of soft bedding tucked between his chin and chest. Dab-Dab ruffled her feathers approvingly. She herself had picked out the softest pillowcase, holed and set aside for mending, for the cause.

"Very sensible animals, making a nest," Dab-Dab said to me approvingly. I would have liked to follow up on this observation. However, there were patients waiting still, and if I did not help the Doctor with them he would never be done in time for tea.


End file.
